Chapter 173 - Engaging With The Enemies

Episode 166- Engaging with the enemies

In the middle of the silence, many armored knights rushed in, appearing to be looking for a figure. When the knights discovered the figure they were looking for, they immediately rushed to him.

"Greetings, Eldest Miss, head butler." Without waiting for the both of them to allow him to speak, the knight explained, 

"The knights at the bottom have tightened their security and also sent in some of the knights stationed below to help. They have searched through the vicinity, however, there were no signs of invasion from below."

Eugene's eyes darkened instantly, and she couldn't help but reach her hand over to rub them, "Do you mean to say that the intruders never came from the bottom of the mountain?"

The armored knight nodded. 

'How did they come from then? Above?' Eugene thought sarcastically. Hearing movement and ruffling behind her, she turned around to the workers' eyes filling up with panic again and thought deeply. 

She moved in close to the head butler and the knight and whispered, "Is it possible an insider betrayed us?" The theory of the intruder descending from the sky was scratched out because that was just impossible…? And nothing could explain the sudden attack if no one had entered the mountain in the first place. Hence, the only thing that could explain this situation was that a group from inside betrayed them.

The knight shook his head and immediately refuted Eugene's theory, "It is roughly estimated that there are 30 people who have invaded. I had my knights make rounds and confirmed that there are no betrayers among us. Our site is completely clear."

Eugene pursed her lips as she stared at the knight. She moved her gaze from the knight to the butler before closing her eyes. Though the head butler or the knight didn't say anything, it was wrong of her to have been suspicious of the people on her side. She opened her eyes and stared straight into the eyes of the knight after calming herself down, "I apologize for my words, please forget what I just said." 

The knight's widened slightly from Eugene's apology however he shook his head, "Master does not need to apologize. She has every right to be suspicious." He was the first to suspect his knights and even launched an investigation as a result of his suspicion. 

"Let's think of this problem later. First, let's evacuate everyone to the basement. I have to check on something and I will come later." Eugene wasted no time and ordered.

Her words were met with objections as it would be weird for them to evacuate before their masters even did. But Eugene shut the workers' mouths with her glare who had to dutifully follow her orders. 

She turned to the butler and asked, "But where is everyone?" She hadn't seen anyone other than the workers and the knights since she arrived downstairs.

"The Duke has gone to the Imperial Palace for a meeting. The Duchess and Youngest Miss are together at the training field. I have since sent knights to escort the Duchess and Youngest Miss to safety and Master Aernest…" The butler hesitated. This was the real reason why he had panicked. Because he did not know where Aernest was.

Eugene felt as if her world came crashing down. As if she had choked on tough meat. The message left by Aernest earlier today indicated that he was at their secret place, the waterfall area. And that place was close to where the first red flare went off. 

"Head butler. Please prepare an emergency messenger bird and send messages to the Imperial Palace informing them that the house has been attacked and request that the Duke returns with reinforcements. At the same time, please send the same message to all four noble houses. It is possible that not all the great nobles are attending the meeting and may arrive with reinforcement faster than the Duke. After you are done, please head to the basement."

The head butler was naturally caught off guard at Eugene speaking so fast as if she was going to be heading off somewhere, "And what about you,  Eldest Miss?!" His voice was panicked and slightly raised as he questioned.

Eugene did not rely on the head butler and turned to the armored knight, "Please escort the Duchess and Young Miss to safety. Bring in extra people to do that." Moniqua and Euria's safety was incredibly important. 

"Also, get me three knights and have them wait for me here." Eugene turned around and was just about to run when the head butler stopped her.

"MISS?!" He raised his voice.

"It's an order. Go now!" She shook his hand off her shoulder and ran past the workers to head to her room. 

In a hurry, she slammed her door open and headed for under her bed where a black case was located. It was a beautiful case, though covered in dust. Eugene opened the case without caring about the dust and grabbed the things inside. An untouched beautiful black-matte bow that Kal had customized for her 6 and a half years ago lay inside the case. After checking the condition of the bow, and the condition of the string and arrow, she slung the bow over her back and locked the arrow container on the side of her thighs.

After that, she rushed to her drawer and pulled it open. A long weapon wrapped in black cloth could be seen inside. Eugene wrapped her weapon open and checked the condition of her sword. There was no time to admire her sword case, sword handle, and the entire sword that was completely matte-black as she quickly tied the sword to the other side of her hope. This was a custom-made sword Levis gave her when she had turned 5.

After she grabbed these two things, she rushed out of her room and headed downstairs. There was nothing in her head other than getting to Aernest. But to get to Aernest she would need to go through the enemies which was why she got her sword. The bow and arrows are for Aernest who may have been training his ears and not swordsmanship. 

As soon as Eugene reached downstairs, three knights were already waiting for her. She nodded to them and motioned them to follow her. 

"Miss? Where are we going? We were told to protect Eldest Miss and forbid Miss from leaving the house at all cost." One of the knights said as he ran after her. But no matter how fast he ran to her, he could never catch up with her. 

"Protect yourselves." She said without turning behind, "Also, we are going to get Aernest." Too late for the knights, but they were already out of the house and in the forest.

"What?!" All the knights exclaimed as they ran after her.

"Should we not get more reinforcements?" One of the knights said when suddenly Eugene raised her palm. She motioned for them to shut up, and climb up the tree. Eugene climbed up the tree first and it did not take long before she was high up in the sky. The knights were unable to do anything but shut up and follow after her. 

10 seconds later, 2 people wearing dark clothing with masks on could be seen. The knights who saw this shivered in goosebumps as they watched the enemies below. They had not realized that there were enemies close by and without Eugene, they would have been discovered. Just as they were recovering from the shock, they received another shock.

WHOOSH!

One of the enemies was hit by a lightning-fast arrow that pierced through the top of his head. There was no need to check to see if the enemy died immediately, but not a millisecond after the shot, before the second enemy could react, a little girl jumped 4 meters down and stabbed the second enemy from the head down without hesitation.

Before anyone could react, two enemies were killed by the hand of a 10-year-old girl, without fighting back. The three knights that were still on top of the three were stunned in shock when suddenly Eugene raised her head to stare at them. Her murderous grey eyes, along with her face stained with the enemy's blood sent spine chilling shivers down the knights back as they instinctively jumped down. There were no longer any words spoken as they followed Eugene in silence.

After a while, the silence was broken Eugene. "The reason why I didn't bring more people is to rescue Aernest quickly. The more people I bring, the more likely the enemies will notice us, hence slowing us down." She did not have to explain to the knights but she did so anyway. Her meaning was that she didn't want to engage in unnecessary battles because that would slow them down.

The knights were surprised that Eugene had explained herself. After all, rumors were going around that Eugene speaks less than 100 words per year. When Eugene found out about this rumor, she thought that it was outrageous. She reckons she speaks at least 5000 words a day, okay?

Back to the story...

The group encountered a group of enemies once again, however before the enemies could see them, Eugene made sure everyone was hidden. This time, she did not engage in a fight because there were 10 people on the enemy's side. She did not even want to waste a single minute on fighting hence she waited for them to pass by when...

"Do you smell blood?" someone said suddenly. All ten enemies came to a halt right in front of Eugene and the knights.

Eugene and the knights raised their guards as they inhaled deeply. They tried to remain calm and prepared for whatever situation might arise.

One of the enemies looked at the person who said that and rolled his eyes, "You idiot. There's blood on your face."

"...oh." The guy tilted his head. The group of enemies soon left. They left far enough for Eugene and the knights to come out of hiding. 

"That was close." One of the knights sighed as his hand reached to his heart.

Eugene glanced in the direction the enemy was heading and turned around without any hesitation.